Realizations

2026, June, Issue 207

Realizations await!

Oh, Spiritual Practitioner!

See your Path to Liberation!

All this eternal

nonsense and clutter,

clinging to darkness,

clinging to suffering,

clinging to belief,

clinging to what is not real,

Stop doing that!

Letting go of this

useless self, this

closed heart and mind,

It’s time to discover reality!

Aspire to Awaken,

Aspire to realize,

Realize fully

All that is beyond our

Senseless existence, our

Senseless eternal suffering;

It’s very simple!

Enlightenment,

nothing to it,

easy-peasy,

Awakening is just so,

just here in this moment,

just as simple as can be!

You can’t do that?

You can’t Awaken?

You don’t know why yet?

Okay, no problem,

Just look at this world around you,

Just keep this cycle of misery going,

See how well it has never served you in the least!

If your attachments and misery

are important to you,

then cultivate delusion, cultivate desire, cultivate hate;

Don’t forget fear and greed and anger!

There you go,

he says with as much sarcasm as possible,

your demise is ensured,

you can keep flailing in the bardos,

you may never Awaken,

and, since this was your choice to keep it going,

you will have nothing to complain about!

See this world for what it is!

Realize the futility of perpetual suffering!

Realize this, you must Awaken!

A poem by Robert Aho © 2026

When we talk about realizations in relation to the Spiritual Path, we are really talking about milestones in how we see reality, which means seeing more clearly, catching glimpses of Ultimate Reality. When we step onto the Spiritual Path, we only see a spark at first, maybe just a small flash of light that we somehow sense is truth. We can call that a spark of truth; however, with each realization, we discover that truth is really something far more simple and far vaster than we had ever imagined possible. We realize we’re trapped by delusion.

Here we are as ordinary humans, clinging for the most part to those things we were born into, our national identity, religion, politics, family, socioeconomic status, culture, ethnicity—all the things that somehow give us identity and a sense of self. This was never our choice, except that we created causes and condition in lifetime after lifetime that made it all possible. We might, despite objection from those in our lives, start to question that. When we start to look at all that nonsense we were born into, we start to see that it is a very small dark corner of what we assume is reality, assuming without any real knowledge. It’s just a relative point of view that cannot actually withstand the questions necessary. It’s actually rather easy to see that absolutely every concept and belief we’ve ever had are completely erroneous.

When we examine the boundary between self and other, we can’t find a boundary. We share air. We share water. We share ideas and language, and being human.

We can examine our boundaries between humans and all other beings, as well, finding similar results. We can see that we all require each other or we wouldn’t exist at all. We easily discover this boundary does not exist. We discover Oneness at some point.

In this swirling turbulent mess we call the life bardo, we need only realize that appearances are teachings, resting in that observation, and it becomes obvious that cyclic existence is futile. We can see that we create our own demise. It becomes obvious that none of it is necessary.

At that point, we have the realization that we must let go. We might spend a little bit more time and energy seeking or dabbling among various philosophies, spiritual points of view, ideas about reality; however, we develop a sense that our own clinging and attachments are holding us back. This leads to the realization that we must Awaken. When that happens, we’re ready for the first step. This is a major realization.

So, we begin to look at mind. We begin to develop a repertoire of Spiritual Practices that might lead to awakening. Most of all, we realize that we must Aspire to Awaken and never give up. We hold this realization as most precious; it dominates each and everything we do from that point forward.

Realizations vary from one individual to another. It depends upon what we don’t know. We might not understand at first, for instance, that love and compassion are vitally important. When we see that this spark embodies love and compassion, that we must cultivate that with each action, we discover an essential realization. Sometimes people miss this important teaching, thinking that it’s more important to keep battling the world around them. This sends people off the Path, back to a place that is much worse than when they first started.

Another important realization is when we discover Emptiness. Everything looks magical, truly crisp and clear with this realization. With Emptiness we discover the illusory nature of existence. It’s important.

When we realize the Nature of Mind, it will shake your world, because we have finally recognized the basis for enlightenment itself. Related to this, we have many stages of realization, which are levels of spiritual progression. The point is to Awaken. When that happens, we have everything.

Blessings of Source,

Rigdzin Robert Aho

Robert Aho is the author of Timeless Luminosity and The Frog: A Spiritual Autobiography, Spanning Many Lifetimes. Both books, written after his death experience, give advanced spiritual advice regarding the complete Spiritual Path, inspiration for living each day and words of encouragement, with the intention of helping people to stay committed to their Spiritual Path, as well as preparing for death. This ultimately leads to discovering your own power within, which leads to Awakening. Both books are available on Amazon, Zenith Bookstore, as well as various other sources.